The Third Eye Man of USC

Something isn’t quite right on the USC campus. It’s been that way for awhile. Students and locals know the legends. Some say it’s just a local ghost story, but others insist that it’s something else. Something more sinister. Although exactly what is lurking in the darkness at USC is somewhat of a mystery, it has been given a name by locals..The Third Eye Man.

The unexplained creature was seen on campus sometime around 1949. School records at the University of South Carolina state that a peculiar man dressed in all silver was spotted by two students opening a man hole cover and disappearing into the underground sewage systems of the campus, . One of the students who was there to see this extraordinary sight was named C. Nichols and wrote for the school newspaper. He wrote about the “sewer man” that he had witnessed and soon the legend of the sewer man had spread like wildfire. There were so many questions and theories as to what exactly the two students had seen that night. The excitement
over the sewer man soon fizzled out and life returned to normal on the campus at USC.

The following year, less than six months after the first incident, things became even more strange. A University Police officer was on duty and patrolling behind the Longstreet theatre when he noticed what looked like feathers and bloody chicken parts all over the loading dock. Two chickens had been strangely mutilated and torn apart. The officer had seen many college pranks but none this strange. After walking back to his patrol car to report the bloody mess, he returned to the scene and saw what looked to be a man hunkered down over the mutilated chickens. He looked to be wearing all silver. The officer quickly shined his flashlight onto the man which in turn looked up at him. What the officer saw would have him telling his story for the rest of his life.

Staring back at him was what he described as a “grotesque, oddly colored face” with what appeared to be some type of a third eye on it’s forehead. It was reported by the policeman that they “eye” was “not a large eye, but an eye all the same” The legend of the Third Eye Man had been born. The policeman ran frightened from the loading docks and called for back up. It is said that the policeman was hysterical and when his fellow officers arrived, there was no trace of the third eye man. He had a hard time convincing his coworkers of what he had witnessed that night. Locals thought that maybe this wild encounter with the Third Eye Man would be the end of the Third Eye man encounters..But they were wrong.

In the late 1960’s, “the catacombs” beneath the University, ( a series of underground tunnels that interconnect most of USC) became a popular hang out spot for young students. One night in early October, a fraternity took a few pledges down to the catacombs.. They entered the tunnels and as they rounded the first corner, they were met by a “crippled looking man dressed all in silver” . According to police reports, the man then wildly charged at the students, swinging a metal pipe at them. One of the pledges was knocked to the ground by the grotesque looking creature, and was reported to suffer “minor cuts and minor shock” because of his brush with the Third Eye Man. Two of the students went to the university police and later that evening the first “third eye man-hunt” began. The police searched for many hours, but never found the creature lurking in the catacombs.. As a safety measure for future students, the
police soon sealed off the entrances to the tunnels.

Many University maintenance staff are still even today too frightened to enter the dark tunnels beneath the University of SC. The mystery of the Third Eye Man remains just that and he hasn’t been seen in awhile. Could it be some type of ghost? Possibly some type of creature not yet identified by science? Until the third eye man decided to show himself again, we will have to keep wondering.